BRIDGEWATER, FRANCIS HENRY EGERTON, 8TH EARL OF (1756-1829), was educated at Eton and Christ Church, Oxford, and became fellow of All Souls in 1780, and F.R.S. in 1781. He succeeded to the earldom in 1823, and spent the latter part of his life in Paris. He was a fair scholar and a zealous naturalist and antiquarian. At his death the earldom be came extinct. He bequeathed to the British Museum the valuable Egerton mss. dealing with the literature of France and Italy, and also £ He also left L8,000 to the president of the Royal Society for a work on apologetics by a writer or writers to be selected. The work was divided among eight authors, whose treatises, known as the Bridgewater treatises, appeared between 1833 and 1840.
The Bridgewater treatises were published as follows:-1. The Adap tation of External Nature to the Moral and Intellectual Condition of Man, by Thomas Chalmers, D.D. 2. The Adaptation of External Nature to the Physical Condition of Man, by John Kidd, M.D. 3. Astronomy and General Physics considered with reference to Natural Theology, by William Whewell, D.D. 4. The Hand, its Mechanism and Vital Endowments as evincing Design, by Sir Charles Bell. 5. Animal and Vegetable Physiology considered with reference to Natural Theol ogy, by Peter Mark Roget. 6. Geology and Mineralogy considered with reference to Natural Theology, by William Buckland, D.D. 7. The Habits and Instincts of Animals with reference to Natural Theology, by William Kirby. 8. Chemistry, Meteorology, and the Function of Digestion, considered with reference to Natural Theology, by William Prout, M.D. The works are of unequal merit; several of them took a high rank in apologetic literature. They were reprinted in Bohn's Scientific Library.